National Nurse News

The California Nurses Association today welcomed the introduction of four California legislative proposals that it said will hold hospitals more accountable in meeting their charity care obligations, reduce hospital workplace violence, and increase healthcare industry transparency upon implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The bills were formally introduced Friday. More »

Problems associated with RN short-staffing are played out on every floor, every day in the vast majority of this nation’s hospitals. That’s why the RNs of National Nurses United (NNU) place such a high priority on adequate staffing. Minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are the critical factor in providing safe, quality patient care. Just ask Leah Hale, RN. —National Nurses United, 02/26/13 More »

On a day in which the European Union’s tax commissioner recommended the U.S. join the growing list of nations favoring a tax in financial speculation to repair global economies, the largest U.S. organization of nurses criticized recent comments by Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew for showing more loyalty to Wall Street than to Main Street. —National Nurses United, 02/26/13 More »

Registered nurses and other healthcare employees of Doctors Medical Center will call on the West Contra Costa County Healthcare District Board of Directors Wednesday to stop the escalating cuts at the San Pablo hospital and clinics and work with the nurses and other workers providing hands on care to find permanent solutions to save the community hospital. —California Nurses Association, 02/26/13 More »

LANSING, Mich. - Sparrow Hospital and the Michigan Nurses Association, which represents nearly 2,200 nurses and health care professionals who provide care to mid-Michigan patients and families every day, have finalized modifications to a contract that would have expired this year. —Michigan Nurses Association, 02/25/13 More »

Area nurses and healthcare advocates met in Worcester with the Health Policy Commission on Friday to fight against mandatory overtime practices being used at local hospitals to skirt the issue of poor staffing. —GoLocalWorcester, 02/25/13 More »

A state judge has temporarily halted plans to close the financially ailing Long Island College Hospital, giving a victory to hospital workers who say that its closing would be devastating to community health care. —The New York Times, 02/25/13 More »

Noticeably absent from President Obama's "fix-it-first" program for rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure, highlighted in his State of the Union speech, is, so far, the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline project. Let's keep it that way. —National Nurses United, 02/23/13 More »

City of Hope RNs will hold a prayer vigil Monday night outside the Duarte hospital to alert the public to concerns over hospital actions they believe potentially jeopardize patient safety involving the introduction of new specialized equipment for patients needing continuous cardiac monitoring, and the hospital’s retaliation and discrimination against nurses for voicing concerns about proper use of the equipment. —California Nurses Association, 02/23/13 More »

(Detroit, MI) Working people passed out leaflets in front of Chase Bank on Woodward Avenue this afternoon, calling on corporate special interests to pay their fair share in taxes.
—Michigan Nurses Association, 02/20/13 More »

Massachusetts Nurses along with other advocates will be on hand to push for a clear definition of a government declared emergency to prevent hospitals from skirting the law and endangering patients. —Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU, 02/20/13 More »

The president’s State of the Union message may have sort of resolved the question: “Will he or won’t he touch Medicare? The answer: he probably will, a conclusion based on his cryptically grand rhetoric. The president called for those who care deeply about Medicare to “embrace the need for modest reforms—otherwise our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children.” Vague enough! —Columbia Journalism Review, 02/14/13 More »

Washington, D.C. – Wearing their signature Robin Hood hats, U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign advocates brought their message of a Wall Street sales tax directly into the confirmation hearing of Jack Lew before the Senate Finance Committee this morning: The next Treasury Secretary needs to give his highest priority to raising revenue for Main Street and the many communities still suffering from the financial collapse of 2008. Robin Hood called upon Lew to pledge his support for the Robin Hood Tax, embodied in the Inclusive Prosperity Act, or Ellison bill. —Robin Hood Tax Campaign, 02/13/13 More »

On the Proposed Closure of a 15-bed Drug and Alcohol Detox Unit at Brigham & Women’s Faulkner Hospital. Opponents to the Closing Will Present Testimony Detailing the Devastating Impact the Loss of this Service Will Have on the Most Vulnerable Patients Requiring Complex Treatment for Addiction. —Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU, 02/13/13 More »

Advocates for American communities still reeling from the 2008 financial collapse are calling upon the Senate Finance Committee this week to press Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew for commitments to hold Wall Street accountable.. One way to do that is to get his pledge of support for the Inclusive Prosperity Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), which embodies the Robin Hood Tax —a small sales tax on Wall Street speculative activity that would raise up to $350 billion a year and start to turn around our hurting communities. —National Nurses United, 02/11/13 More »

Washington, D.C. – Community, labor and healthcare activists are calling upon the Senate Finance Committee this week to press Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew to support a Financial Transaction, or Robin Hood, tax. The Robin Hood tax will begin to bring much needed fairness to the tax code, put the brakes on reckless Wall Street trading, and hold Wall Street accountable to the many communities still suffering from the crashing of the economy. —National Nurses United, 02/11/13 More »

Protest Monday Calling for Expanded Medicare for All. Registered nurses will join with the Campaign for a Healthy California, a coalition of labor and healthcare activists, Monday in Sacramento in a challenge to California health insurance corporations, the latest step in an ongoing campaign to work for guaranteed healthcare for all by expanding and updating Medicare to cover everyone. —Campaign for a Healthy California, 02/08/13 More »

Citing serious adverse health concerns, National Nurses United announced today that it is joining with environmentalists, unions and other organizations from across the country to oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline – the 1,700 mile of tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to refineries in Texas. With 185,000 members, NNU is the largest organization and union of registered nurses. —National Nurses United, 02/05/13 More »

The proposed law benefits all patients in the District with mandatory minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by hospital unit, whistle-blower protections and an end to mandatory overtime. Nurses are burned out and that puts patient care in jeopardy. “This is a problem at every single hospital in the city,” said Raj. —National Nurses United, 02/05/13 More »

Survey: 57% of District Hospital Nurses Cite Inadequate Staffing. Registered nurses joined with District of Columbia Council members and community supporters in a press conference today to announce the introduction of the Patient Protection Act to dramatically improve care in DC hospitals to protect patients. —National Nurses United, 02/05/13 More »

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) plans to introduce such a bill Tuesday, he announced at a news conference Monday, where nearly 200 nurses wearing red scrubs packed a room in the John A. Wilson Building as union leaders and local politicians led them in chants of “patients over profit.” —The Washington Post, 02/04/13 More »

THIS WEEK we have two very honorable guests to share with you. We promised them we would not tarnish their stellar reputations so they agreed. First, Ken Zinn the D.C. based Political Director for National Nurses United then retired army nurse captain, Vietnam war veteran and founder of the Women’s Vietnam Memorial, Diane Carlson Evans. Listen and share! —Nurse Talk Radio, 02/01/13 More »

It is hard to pinpoint the precise moment when “good jobs” disappeared from national discourse, ignored by our leaders and the media that cover them. The phrase was invoked during President Obama’s campaign—that is, his first run for the presidency. But it soon disappeared in a West Wing dominated by Wall Street. —Robin Hood Tax Campaign, 01/29/13 More »

Nurses to Picket Hospital Thursday over Attack on Rights. Sutter Solano registered nurses are stepping up their rebuttal to the hospital management in Vallejo and Sutter corporate officials for illegal threats and disciplinary action against nurses who exercised their federally protected right to strike. —California Nurses Association, 01/29/13 More »

When the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Friday to overturn President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, it handed a huge gift to Wall Street, big corporations and the politicians they control. —San Francisco Chronicle, 01/28/13 More »

OHIO--Registered nurses at Affinity Medical Center in Massillon, Oh will hold an informational picket outside the hospital on Monday, January 28 to protest unfair labor practices and hospital management policies they say are intended to intimidate and discourage nurses from reporting unsafe practices, such as inadequate staffing, that put patients at risk. —NNOC-Ohio, 01/25/13 More »

Bid to Return to Era of Open Season on U.S. Workers. The nation’s largest organization of nurses today condemned a conservative federal appeals court ruling overturning President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, a step taken by the President only after the refusal of Senate Republicans to restore a quorum on the board to enable it to function. —National Nurses United, 01/25/13 More »

Houston – Registered Nurses, members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas/National Nurses United (NNU) -- the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, with 185,000 members -- will rally outside Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center (11049 FM 1940, Houston, corner of Steepletop and FM 1960) on Thursday, January 24 at Noon, to celebrate an important anniversary: five years of collective bargaining -- and the quality patient care those contracts provide --in the state’s private sector hospitals. —NNU Texas, 01/24/13 More »

The 11 countries are Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia. Other countries can opt in later. Sweden, for example, chose not to participate, saying that a “global” tax was needed to protect all national markets. The Netherlands has expressed interested, but would like to see an exemption for their pension funds. Join the U.S. movement at www.RobinHoodTax.org —RobinHood Blog by NNU, 01/23/13 More »

Germany, France and nine other eurozone countries have been given the green light to impose a financial transaction tax, despite warnings from banks and business groups that it will drive share, currency and derivative trading out of Europe. —The Guardian, 01/22/13 More »

Sutter Solano registered nurses, joined by RNs from other hospitals and local labor leaders spoke out Tuesday to condemn the Vallejo hospital executives for illegal threats and disciplinary actions against nurses who have exercised their collective rights to protest sweeping concession demands. —CNA Blog, 01/22/13 More »

“We have to have an economy – a real economy. What do we have now?” asked RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. ‘Poverty a crime against humanity in the world’s richest country’. Watch and share “Vision for a New America” on the C-SPAN website, and tell the president #PovertyMustEnd. —NNU Blog, 01/18/13 More »

With poverty rates spinning perilously out of control in the U.S., it’s time to send an unmistakable message to Congress and the White House as they prepare to resume the ongoing obsession with the deficit: End the silence on poverty, don’t make poverty worse through cuts to Social Security or Medicare, and address a principle cause of poverty with a permanent fix to our dysfunctional healthcare system. —NNU Blog, 01/17/13 More »

America is dangerous to your health. A recent international commission reported that U.S. men rank last in life expectancy for the 17 industrial nations in the study; U.S. women rank next to last. When it comes to health, the United States is exceptional — exceptionally bad. —The Washington Post, 01/16/13 More »

Columnist Colleen O'Connor explains why Rose Ann DeMoro, the director of the nurses union, is more powerful than any woman in California but the governor's wife. A month into the new year and it is obvious who the 2013 Person of the Year in California will be: Rose Ann DeMoro. —PowayPatch.com, 01/16/13 More »

Be sure to watch RoseAnn DeMoro, National Nurses United’s executive director, talk Thursday about how bedside nurses are witnessing the devastating harm the economy has on patients and their communities. —NNU Blog, 01/15/13 More »

Chicago, IL – More than two hundred union leaders and activists gathered in Chicago for the Labor Campaign's fourth national conference to strategize about next steps for labor in the movement to win universal health care. With government officials from both major parties contemplating cuts in Medicare as part of a "grand bargain," delegates resolved to stand up to any cuts in this cornerstone social insurance program. —Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care , 01/14/13 More »

BROCKTON -- Nurses union leaders are hopeful they will see changes at the Brockton Multi-Service Center after sitting down with the state’s mental health commissioner. —EnterpriseNews.com, 01/14/13 More »

There are more billionaires than ever, while children and seniors go hungry and record numbers of families struggle in poverty. Nurses can help by passing the Robin Hood Tax. —NNU Blog, 01/14/13 More »

In a California Healthline Special Report by Kenny Goldberg, experts discussed whether hospital workers should be required to obtain vaccines for influenza. Hear what Zenei Cortez, co-president of the California Nurses Association has to say in this audio interview. —California Healthline, 01/14/13 More »

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. — A group of northern Minnesota nurses will rally in Thief River Falls on Friday in support of a legislative proposal that would set minimum staffing levels at hospitals across the state. —Minnesota Public Radio, 01/10/13 More »

America may be one of the richest countries in the world, but its people are less healthy and more likely to die early from disease or accidents than those in any other affluent country, a damning official US report has found —The Guardian, 01/10/13 More »

When you decide not to get a flu shot, the risk is that you or someone near you will get sick. But for health care workers, the price is increasingly a pink slip. Hundreds have already been fired. —USA Today, 01/10/13 More »

AUSTALIA--The NSW Nurses Association has said it will campaign for mandatory staffing ratios in more areas of the health system when the NSW nurses industrial award expires in June. —Newcastle Herald, 01/10/13 More »

Three trillion dollars a year. That's how much the wealthiest Americans avoid through the system of subsidies and schemes and sweet deals that deprive middle-class workers of their earned benefits. That's three times more than the deficit. That's enough for a full-time job for every middle-class household in America. —Common Dreams, 01/09/13 More »

One has to wonder if Paul Schott Stevens’ “Don’t enact financial transaction taxes,” December 20, 2012, is more about protecting the turf of billion dollar Wall Street banks and enormous investment firms, including their lucrative mutual fund businesses, than protecting the average people who invest and save. —Health GAP, 01/08/13 More »

MICHIGAN--The registered nurses at ProMedica’s Bixby and Herrick hospitals in Lenawee County have filed requests with the federal government to intervene after months of ProMedica failing to work with the nurses to improve patient safety and retaliating when they raise concerns. —Michigan Nurses Association, 01/08/13 More »

To Protect Patients, Uphold Standards, Fight Employer Attacks. Blast Efforts to Roll Back Patient Ratios, Erode Contract Protections. With escalating healthcare industry attacks on patient care protections and living standards for registered nurses and other hospital employees, often aided by a surrogate wearing a union label who cosponsored an effort to suspend California’s nurse-to-patient ratio law, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today announced the affiliation of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. —California Nurses Association, 01/03/13 More »

Nurses represented by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United have won a two year contract that includes wage increase, provisions for safe staffing and language that prohibits the employer from forcing employees to work beyond their shift or regular schedule. —Maine State Nurses Association, 12/28/12 More »

WORCESTER, MA – The Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United (MNA/NNU) has filed a charge of unfair labor practice and is seeking an injunction with the National Labor Relations Board against UMass Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) for its unprecedented decision to violate the nurses’ union contract and force nurses, who are supposed to have the Christmas Holiday off with their family, to work that day, even though many of these nurses have already worked Thanksgiving, and will be working on New Year’s Day. —Massachusetts Nurses Association, 12/21/12 More »

Protest against cuts that would set back nursing care standards for decades. Registered nurses are holding a year-end one-day strike at nine Bay Area hospitals on Monday, Dec. 24, the latest in a series of protests emphasizing big hospital demands for major cuts in nurses’ and patient care standards. The walkout will affect close to 5,000 RNs represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United at Bay Area Sutter facilities and two San Jose hospitals. —California Nurses Association, 12/21/12 More »

While the nation was watching Honey Boo Boo, the Governor of Michigan was pushing through a radical bill during a lame duck session. Governor Rick Snyder just signed the “right to work” law in the state of Michigan. A state that was built on the strength of labor unions. The state that worked with those unions and corporations to build a strong middle class. We discuss this sad day with Michigan RN and President of the Michigan Nurses Association, Jeff Breslin. —Nurse Talk Radio, 12/20/12 More »

CANTON, MA -- As the state prepares for the upcoming influenza season, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the state’s largest union of registered nurses and health professionals, strongly opposes a new policy being implemented by a number of hospital and health care employers calling for mandatory masking of health care workers as a component of a flu prevention program, and threatens to fire nurses who don’t wear the mask throughout the hospital all day. —Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU, 12/20/12 More »

Registered nurses at Bay Area Sutter hospitals have offered to call off plans for a one-day strike Monday, December 24 if Sutter executives agree to withdraw demands for sweeping and unwarranted reductions in patient care protections and other contract standards, which is at the heart of the dispute between the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United and local Sutter hospitals —California Nurses Association, 12/20/12 More »

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Rafael, and 20 other Kaiser hospitals from Santa Rosa to Fresno, picketed Wednesday to protest what they say is "persistently inadequate nurse staffing." The action mounted by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United comes as Kaiser is attempting to cut its nurse staffing. —Marin Independent Journal, 12/20/12 More »

Why is the President back to making premature and unnecessary concessions to Republicans? Two central issues in the 2012 presidential election were whether the Bush tax cuts should be ended for people earning over $250,000, and whether Social Security and Medicare should be protected from future budget cuts. —Robert Reich's Blog, 12/20/12 More »

Our nurses see dire need every day in the ER, but the growing gulf of inequality in the US has made such deprivation ubiquitous. With a compromise on social security now unmasked – costing the elderly an estimated 6.2-7.7%, according to business writer Doug Henwood – America becomes more and more a place of poverty. Warnings that austerity begets poverty will go ignored, but the nation's deteriorating condition cannot so easily be overlooked. —The Guardian, 12/19/12 More »

Registered nurses at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward -- one of the last remaining non-union hospitals for RNs in the immediate Bay Area -- voted by 91 percent Tuesday night to join the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. —California Nurses Association, 12/19/12 More »

Who wins: Robin Hood or the Grinch? On December 20th, help us deliver this message to the White House: Heal America. Re-Build the American Dream. Tax Wall Street! Call and share: 202-456-1414. —National Nurses United, 12/18/12 More »

Registered nurses will picket 21 Kaiser Permanente hospitals from Santa Rosa to Fresno Wednesday, Dec. 19 to protest what they say is persistently inadequate nurse staffing in emergency care and other hospital areas, as well as patients being turned away from needed care, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today. —California Nurses Association, 12/18/12 More »

Registered nurses across the country mourn the loss of life marked by the shooting of innocents in Connecticut. This should be a clear wake up call for the White House, Congress, and state and local legislators to take action to address causes of the violence, including restoring the devastating cuts that have occurred to mental health services across the U.S. —By Deborah Burger, RN, 12/18/12 More »

CT shooting devastating, sadly not surprising to nation’s RNs. Registered nurses across the country mourn the loss of life marked by the shooting of innocents in Connecticut and say it is time for the White House, Congress, and state and local legislators to take action to address causes of the violence, including restoring the devastating cuts that have occurred to mental health services across the United States. More »

Registered nurses will hold a year-end one-day strike at nine Bay Area hospitals on Monday, Dec. 24, the latest in a series of protests emphasizing big hospital demands for major cuts in nurses’ and patient care standards. The walkout will affect close to 5,000 RNs represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United at Bay Area Sutter facilities and two San Jose hospitals. —California Nurses Association, 12/14/12 More »

Every year, National Nurses United’s top RN leaders convene to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year as well as to strategize about how to build the national nurses movement and push back against the incessant forces of corporate healthcare in the year ahead. —NNU Blog, 12/13/12 More »

LANSING, MI--Registered nurses who are members of the Michigan Nurses Association protested Gov. Rick Snyder’s so-called “Right to Work” law on Monday with a dramatic scene: Standing silent on the steps of the Capitol with duct tape covering their mouths. It’s symbolic of how the Governor’s attack on workers will stop nurses from speaking out at work so they can keep their patients safe from corporations and CEOs that care only about profits. —Michigan Nurses Assoc. Press Release, 12/10/12 More »

Exactly three years ago today, CNA joined with nurses from Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington DC, and a number of other states to form the largest organization of nurses in U.S. history. —CNA/NNOC Press Release, 12/07/12 More »

Registered nurses at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, Calif. have enthusiastically approved a new agreement that most notably includes a precedent-setting needlestick and workplace violence insurance benefit funded by the employer, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today. More than 600 RNs represented by CNA/NNU overwhelmingly voted to accept the pact in ratification membership meetings held on Wednesday and Thursday. —CNA Press Release, 12/07/12 More »

Registered nurses will picket 21 Kaiser Permanente hospitals from Santa Rosa to Fresno Wednesday, December 19 to protest what they say is persistently inadequate nurse staffing in emergency care and other hospital areas, as well as patients being turned away from needed care, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today. —CNA Press Release, 12/07/12 More »

In the spirit of the season, RNs also collecting canned goods for local food pantry. According to Gayle Burke, RN and co-chairperson of the MNA bargaining unit at Holy Family, nurses on every floor and in every unit are being forced to care for too many patients at once--a practice that has been proven to be dangerous by countless research groups and studies over the last two decades. —Mass. Nurses Assoc. Press Release, 12/07/12 More »

The nation’s largest organization of registered nurses, National Nurses United, today condemned the decision by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and far right state legislators to push a so-called “right-to-work” bill in the lame duck session of the state legislature. More »

Registered nurses, laborers and food and commercial workers from across Michigan are urging Gov. Snyder to stop the politically motivated attacks on working families by publicly pledging to veto any so-called “right to work” legislation that reaches his desk. —Michigan Nurses Association Press Release, 12/05/12 More »

Nurses across the nation are turning up the heat on Congress and the White House with candlelight vigils and other actions in some 20 cities, beginning in Chicago on Thursday, December 6 and continuing across the U.S. Monday, December 10. JOIN US! Click for details. —NNU National Press Release, 12/05/12 More »

It’s become an annual tradition. Nurses are the most trusted profession in the U.S., topping the annual survey by Gallup for the 11th straight year for honesty and ethical standards of 22 occupational groups tested. —Gallup Politics, 12/04/12 More »

With the November election rapidly fading into memory and the basic building blocks of a civil society once again under grave threat from Wall Street and their acolytes in Washington, nurses and other activists have, once again, had to step up the fight to protect basic programs and make the case for real revenue needed to build a sustainable future. —NNU Blog, 12/03/12 More »

The largest association and union of registered nurses in the U.S., with 185,000 RNs, put a stamp today on the national debate surrounding the so-called “fiscal cliff” with an ad campaign in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere across the country. Don’t Push Seniors Off The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – Tax Wall Street – appears on billboards and buses (see graphic, attached, and photo of D.C. bus, below) as part of a stepped-up effort by National Nurses United to protect communities and to call for a Wall Street tax to put the country on the road to a real recovery. Candlelight vigils by nurses and supporters will also be held in 20 cities on December 10 as part of the nurses’ campaign to heal America. —NNU Press Release, 12/03/12 More »

In the debate over the “fiscal cliff,” President Obama and congressional Republicans have returned to the proposals that they were sparring over before the election. They remain at odds over key elements of revenue and spending. Yet both sides are unwilling to consider a minuscule tax on financial transactions that could be a major source of income. —Ralph Nader Blog, 11/30/12 More »

Tomorrow is Worlds Aids Day. And those working on HIV/AIDS have an amazing story to tell the world: we can end the AIDS crisis. Breakthroughs in science have shown us that getting AIDS drugs to those with HIV not only keeps them alive and healthy, but can reduce risk of infection by 96%. This news is amazing - from now on, no one needs to die of AIDS - no one needs to become HIV positive. —Robin Hood Tax UK, 11/30/12 More »

The worldwide campaign to enact Robin Hood taxes on financial speculation received a real boost in a major meeting of global union activists this week -- with the help of U.S. nurses whose Robin Hood hats and messaging is becoming a familiar site at home. Delegates representing 329 unions from 123 countries rallied today in the streets of Durban, South Africa for the Robin Hood Tax while also speaking out against austerity measures pushed by the same finance sectors that are the target of the tax. —NNU Blog, 11/29/12 More »

Jill Furillo, RN, joined the labor movement at 19, and she's worked as an Emergency Room nurse, an organizer, and the bargaining director of the U.S.'s largest union for nurses. Now she is joining the New York State Nurses Association as their new Executive Director. —New York Nurses Association Press Release, 11/29/12 More »

Almost 12,000 Petition Signatures Urge the Legislature to Steer Clear of Right to Work. (Lansing, MI) Firefighters and nurses visited a dozen state senate offices at the capitol today, delivering thousands of petition signatures opposing a Right to Work law and other bills intended to weaken collective bargaining rights. —AFL-CIO Press Release, 11/28/12 More »

If there was ever a critical moment for building a powerful, effective movement of all registered nurses to protect the interests of patients and nurses, that time has surely come. Here are 101 reasons for RN unity. All reflect the way in which nurses, their patients, practice, families, and communities are under attack. Let’s call this a partial list. Add your own reasons. I welcome your thoughts. —NNU Blog by Executive Director, RoseAnn DeMoro, 11/28/12 More »

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are truly grateful for the dedication of our volunteers. Currently, these efforts are being handled by local organizations, with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) taking a key leadership role. If volunteers from out of the local area are needed, we will contact you. The affected RNs and patients are incredibly grateful for your continued support. —NNU Blog, 11/26/12 More »

Registered nurses at 10 Northern California hospitals will strike on Tuesday, November 20, to protest employer demands for sweeping cuts in nurses’ and patient care standards. Some 5,000 RNs are represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United at the 10 hospitals.
It will be a two-day strike, Nov. 20 and 21 for 3,300 RNs and several hundred respiratory, X-ray and other technicians who work at eight Sutter corporation hospitals – Alta Bates Medical Center facilities in Berkeley and Oakland, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, San Leandro Hospital, Sutter Solano in Vallejo, Sutter Delta in Antioch, and Novato Community Hospital.
Another 1,500 RNs will be on strike for one-day, Nov. 20, at two San Jose HCA-affiliated hospitals, Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center. —CNA Press Release, 11/19/12 More »

Outside the district office of Rep. Charles Rangel, Robin Hood Tax Campaigners from National Nurses United (NNU) and Health GAP found an engaged audience today. These residents of New York’s Harlem are wondering when the recovery will arrive. Their neighborhoods are a mix of shuttered brownstones and half-empty condos, a sign of the realty speculation that somehow, someway never brought decent, affordable housing to Manhattan’s northern-most community. —NNU Blog, 11/15/12 More »

Having made their voices heard in the course of hard-fought elections, a national campaign of consumers, health activists, small businesses, unions, religious groups and others will call on members of Congress Wednesday to stand up for our nation’s working people and for vulnerable communities and to urge No to cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or food stamps. —Robin Hood Tax Press Release, 11/13/12 More »

Hurricane Sandy has left a path of devastation in New York and surrounding communities in the Tri-State area, where 670,000 homes and businesses remain without electricity. Click to see how you can help our Registered Nurse Response Network. —Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) Blog, 11/08/12 More »

After Posting More Than $88 Million in Profits, UMass Memorial Medical Center Has Slashed its Nursing and Support Staff in the Last Two Years and Has Gone From Being the Best Staffed Hospital in the City to the Worst, While Also Posting Among the Lowest Rankings in the State for Quality Patient Care —MNA Press Release, 11/08/12 More »

It wasn't even close. That's the unexpected result of the November 6 election. And President Obama and his supporters must wrap their heads around this new reality -- just as their Republican rivals are going to have to adjust to it. After a very long, very hard campaign that began the night of the 2010 “Republican wave” election, a campaign defined by unprecedented spending and take-no-prisoners debate strategies, Barack Obama was reelected president. And he did so with an ease that allowed him to claim what even his supporters dared not imagine until a little after 11 p.m. on the night of his last election: a credible, national win. —The Nation, 11/07/12 More »

National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses said today that the national election delivered an unmistakable message Tuesday: “From the Presidential race to Senate races to local ballot measures, American voters Tuesday delivered a strong message to Wall Street, billionaires and secretive corporate funded political committees – America is not for sale,” said NNU Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. —NNU Press Release, 11/07/12 More »

Across the country, RNs are getting out the vote. Nurses make sure that their communities understand what's at stake, and make the connection between "big politics" and everyday life. Thanks, nurses, for all you do! —NNU Blog, 11/05/12 More »

Petaluma Valley Hospital RNs will be holding informational picketing at the two St. Joseph Health hospitals in Sonoma County in a show of support for nurses at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (SRMH), who begin a three-day strike Saturday, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today. SRMH is represented by the Staff Nurses Association. —CNA Press Release, 11/01/12 More »

BOSTON, Mass — Representatives from the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, along with State Representative Denise Garlick, RN (D-Needham) held a press conference at the State House today to brief reporters on a new law to ban the dangerous practice of mandatory overtime as an alternative to providing safe registered nurse staffing levels in the state’s acute care hospitals. The new law goes into effect on Monday, Nov. 5. —NNU Press Release, 11/01/12 More »

Registered nurses at seven Sutter hospitals in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties will hold a one-day strike on Thursday, November 1. The walkout is in response to demands by Sutter corporate officials for sweeping reductions in patient care protections and nurses contract standards at these hospitals. The strike will involve about 3,200 RNs as well as several hundred respiratory, X-ray and other technicians. “We have been in negotiations going on 18 months and during this time hospital management has repeatedly misrepresented us as nurses and has shown a lack of respect for the hard working women and men who are the backbone of our hospital,” said Ann Gaebler, an Alta Bates RN. “As staff nurses, we have a responsibility to fight to maintain standards of care for our patients. We cannot allow the erosion to patient care that Sutter's proposed takeaways would represent.” —CNA Press Release, 11/01/12 More »

Mention nurses in the Bay Area these days and two images come to mind: a caring, nurturing professional at a patient's bedside, and a perturbed, bullhorn carrying protester walking a picket line. By one estimate, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United has called more than 70 strikes at the state's hospitals in the past two years. Its members will walk off the job again Thursday, waging a one-day strike against seven East Bay hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health as part of an 18-month-long attempt to negotiate a new contract. —Silicon Valley Mercury News, 10/31/12 More »